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tv   NOW With Alex Wagner  MSNBC  November 29, 2012 9:00am-10:00am PST

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sandwich. it is thursday, november 29th and this is "now." joining me today, senior national correspondent for bloomberg "business week," josh green, politico's senior white house reporter, wearing his hat, i might add, glenn thrush, and msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finnney, and washington bureau chief for "the huffington post," ryan grim. a gradual inching away from the edge of the fiscal cliff, depends on who you believe. even with the clock ticking it's almost two week since president obama and john boehner met in person. nbc news confirms two leaders spoke by phone for 15 minutes last night a call described by politico as short and curt. boehner gave his state on the
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current talks a moment ago. >> no substancetive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over past two weeks. all eyes are on the white house. the country doesn't need a v victory lap it needs leader. >> behind the scenes of the contours of a deal are starting to take shape, a trillion plus dollars in tax heights, entitlements of $400 billion and 1.2 trillion in spending cuts to offset the dreaded sequester. if the phoners haven't been gabfests the president is chatting up other folks including small business owners, middle class americans and mitt romney-loving ceos. if awkward meetings are par for the course in washington, the president's one today takes the cake. later this hour, president obama will sit down for a post-election chitchat with the prince of awkward, the king of tilted conversation and uncomfortabled one-liners, mitt romney. is there a role for mittens in
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obama world? >> the president noted that governor romney did a terrific job running the olympics and that skill set lends itself to ideas that could make the federal government work better which is a passion of the president's which he's requested reorganization authority from the congress do just that. >> translation, mitt romney may oversee the installation of a new color coded filing system in the white house. thanks for play, governor. and anyway, charm offenses aside the president knows that his real audience is with the american people. according to most recent "the washington post"/abc news poll 60% support his position on taxes while only 37% oppose it. and when you're up 23 points with the public, maybe out in public is the place to be. glenn, before we focus on the turkey sandwiches that will bring the party together, the two parties together later this hour, i want to talk about what is going on actually with the fiscal cliff. or the fiscal curve or molehill,
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depending how you characterize this thing. seem likes we're going to hear bad news, bad news, bad news until we hear good news which is to say everybody's in their corners but it sounds like, according to your libelist publication, there may be -- >> i'm not an attorney. >> i just play one on tv. there may be the outlines of a real deal with actual numbers. >> yeah, sort of. but we knew that. you know, i think what's going on, and ryan having covered shoulder to shoulder this wonderful show we call congress, the more pessimistic and the more you see the top of john boehner's head in the press conference, and you try to strain to hear his grumbling, the more of a sense you get they're moving closer. nastier the stuff gets, the closer you know you are to a resolution. >> don't take a victory lap, we need serious leadership from the white house would bear out glenn's point. >> right.
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when a fish show starts, the crowd -- >> wow! i hope nobody actually catches that reference. >> the crowd starts yelling. no, there's nothing there. the crowd starts yelling, stand up, look up on stage, no, nobody's there. you have to go through three or four of those. you have to have three or four walkouts and get closer to real crisis levels and then the band finally cops on stage. >> the tailgating outside fiscal cliff deals is incredible. >> and the sad part, for the american people who are watching from the outside, is they don't realize how much of this theater getting to the deal. we know we have to have -- boehner's going to have to talk tough because it seem likes he's holding firm and the white house is holding firm and the left groups are going to flip and right groups are going to flip and it's going to be this dance, and then we'll get to a deal somehow. if you're saying okay, am i --
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are my taxes going up on the 1st or not? >> they are. >> they are, one way or the other. people in the country the way they pay for christmas, focus groups heard this over and over, take out a loan to buy presents, against what they think they'll get back in tax returns to pay back that loan. for those people, all of this dance, we joke, and it is funny and ridiculously childish and high school, maybe junior high, it's scary for people on outside saying -- >> the personal approval rating is 9%, up to 11% now. >> let's also keep in mind, optics are part of this. person who has all of the leverage here is president obama. i think everybody's acknowledges that. boehner asked in the press conference at 11:30, are you starting at same place you were at in 2011 and he sidestepped the question because they know they don't have the same arrows in their quiver. >> the answer's no. the thing obama couldn't get last time and can get this time is more revenue even if congress refuses to ask.
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we go over the fiscal cliff rates reset under bill clinton and you're negotiating a tax cut not a tax increase. other thing the way weight of public opinion since that level has moved strongly against republicans. look who the public says they're going to blame if we go over the cliff, it's republicans because they see them as having forced the issue last time around, been willing to do this this time around. one reason boehner is grumbly and nervous because he doesn't have any leverage. >> i want to point this out. this is interesting in terms of the smoke and mirrors how this will play out for the republicans. in the "wall street journal" they write obama's flexible on highest tax rates. white house's flexibility, described by bowls, confirmed by the administration officials, could envision tax rates -- tax rate increase from the current level but was less than clinton era levels. if the republicans can say, we cut taxes from where they were under clinton it gives them
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cover though rates may go up. a weird, if there is an act of kabuki theater that would be it, right. >> i see a parallel between the two news story the palestinian vote and the congressional stuff because boehner's -- >> be careful here, my friend, please. >> let me do my caveats first. i still have a job when i walk out of the studio. i sort of see a boehner in the role of a boss here. you know he has got, you know, he's got still a very hard core group of people on right who are not still -- still not terribly afraid and are not taking lessons out of election so he really does have a fundamental concern about how he's going to put together a coalition to do this. and i really do think, for all joking aside, this bit of theater, doesn't bother the white house and doesn't bother congressional democrats because they know he's tempting to see how far he can push these guys. >> boehner, they accept him and
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embrace as the negotiator from the right. talking about theater, we have to talk about the mitt romney meeting here, which is -- actually we know the president has been engaged in a certain amount of political theater, meeting small business owners, going out to country, selling this to the american people. i think it's interesting he's choosing this week to meet with mitt romney and yesterday meeting with the money bags that maxed out donations to the romney campaign in a bid to seem like the guy that is above the fray and is you know the great uniter in chief. what do you make of it? >> a way to come bean both of them, the fiscal cliff and mitt romney. here's job for mitt romney. first, you allow medicare to negotiate drug prices, that's your give on entitlements. and then you put mitt romney in charge of it. make him -- >> you think mitt romney would do that? >> when bain was on the ropes, and he was brought in to kind of save the company, he -- he was able to get, you know, bailouts from pension funds, he was able to dole with creditors and get
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them to lower those prices. he's an incredible negotiator. he's steely, he's tough. so you know let him deal with fizer and the rest of the guys and push drug prices down, everybody wins. >> that's a nicer job for him than i envisioned which is saying you guys are using too much copy ing paper, let's do this digitally. >> romney's amoral, here's your goal, lower drug prices across the board, do it. no, here are your charts, here's your quant, go for it. >> amoral or apolitical, you know, i wonder, it is telling, karen, that mitt romney's gotten a warmer embrace from president obama than his own party. >> how about that? >> maybe will be the thing that pushes him over. i thought, for a while during this election cycle, there was no love loss between the two and it wasn't about party but personal distaste for one another, especially towards the end. it's surprising me romney took
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him up on the offer and the present would appropriate him with a role. >> who knows he's going to present him with anything. it's a good thing to say election's over, we're going to come together. the problem is i don't think the meeting with mitt romney gets the president much of anything other than to get him in a room and be like, dude, free stuff, really? you know what i mean? beyond that you don't -- >> reaching out to the rival -- >> i think it plays well into the larger narrative of the week, which is, and last week, trying to talk to everybody, get everybody in to say their piece about what they should or shouldn't do, what their concerns are. it's very smart the president's going to jump over my colleagues here from washington and go right to the people, because that is a lot of power that he holds in his hand with his connection with the people and that database and he did not use last time. >> twitter feed oop. the business community, right? he had ceos, romney supporters, regular ceos who may have voted
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democratic. seeking reconciliation with the president, president obama's meeting with business leaders repairing a troubled relationship known more for conflict than partnership. when the private sector tycoons gather he'll feet as much as pressure to make it right. making aminutes with the president isn't good publicity, it might be a necessity for the bottom line. >> what obama can get and needs from the business community. it's easy to use him as a punching bag, they foolishly lined up behind the wrong guy. they can be a valuable ally in the fiscal cliff push because they're an important component of the republican party. if business leaders come out and recognizing, we've been through the experience of the debt crisis in 2011, business leaders who care about this, have a lot of money on the line, recognize house republicans are willing to go nuts and wreck the economy if you enlist them, you've put additional pressure on republicans to come to the table
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and agree to a deal that's more along the lines of what democrats and president obama would like to happen. i think there's -- there's something in it for president obama. >> maybe form a daisy chain with the ceo of caterpillar and pepsico and walk around. >> not touching that one. >> interesting optical political kabuki theater. as moderate republicans join the critical corous over susan rice, we'll look at rice resume on "now." so anyway, i've been to a lot of places. you know, i've helped alot of people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep?
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susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job
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that she's done. >> the u.n. ambassador got a very public vote of confidence, and even a round of applause, yesterday when she and other cabinet members met at white house. she got the backing of the woman she might replace. >> susan rice has done a great job as our ambassador to the united nations. >> it was a totally different story over on the hill, where the day after john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte tried to drive a stake through rice's nomination chances, susan colins and bob corker rose up out of the ground to sink they're teeth into her. "the washington post" today reports a white house official and democratic aides say they think rice could win senate confirmation from the top diplomatic job if obama nominated her. however the piece note her confirmation could come at a high political cost as lawmakers negotiate a deal on taxes and entitlement reform. and nbc news reports the president has yet to make up his mind over whether he will select rice or massachusetts senator,
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john kerry. but they say the clock is ticking and a nominee might be announced as early as next week. wow. that's -- i mean that's a tease, huh? but here's the question. here's my question. ryan, i will ask you this first. are republicans going to spend the political capital they must to dead the susan rice nomination? i'll read from the hilling privately come republicans prefer to avoid a bitter political fight over rice, an african-american woman viewed as competent. an early signal na the gop conference will not go to the mat to thwart a rice normal nation. >> depends how badly they want john kerry out of the senate. do we want this terribly ugly fight? you know against a popular nominee or do we want a deal with john kerry and not get scott brown in again? the whole thing is insane. susan collins, reached back to 1998 to find another example of
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an intelligence failure. you have to go all the way to 1998? because if you stop along the way -- >> may i add, susan rice may not be implicated in. there are a set of talking points and there is research going on that's circulated to the republicans that she's meeting with before or after the meeting. >> if we go to '98, talk about what the significance of that was. that was hen bin laden came to the fore, we had a sense of who he was, what he was about, one might say, there was a big, glaring, hey, we should pay attention to this guy that the bush administration then ignored. if we're going back to '98, let's move forward and talk about real failures when i don't know 3,000 people were killed. >> or the failure when secretary of state colin powell sold wmds to the world. >> the nfc -- if corker says we hold secretaries of state to a different standard, why wouz condoleezza rice not held to that standard. susan rice did what she was
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supposed to do, used the unclassified talking points. that was her job. that is what she was supposed to do. anybody else on the shows that day would have done that. this ridiculousness about why she didn't decide to say something different, so then she would have been leaking classified information and seengslily letting the enemy know we we involved then we'd be stringing her up. >> are people going on sunday shows regurgitating talking points? >> have you ever seen this white house get this exercise about anyone being attacked? i thought obama's performance at the press conference the other day was amazing. >> what sense? >> amazing in the sense how do i put this delicately? he's not a guy who throws himself in front of the bus for other people. >> like elizabeth warren. so the notion -- clearly he's close -- he's very close to ambassador rice and thinks she's a good nominee. i also think there's a large sense in there they do not want to have to have kerry as the
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default and not just for reasons involving the senate. i think they don't want him in that -- >> i think the battle hurts the president. this is a fight that the left wants him to take on. if these guys push him, it galvanizes support on the left for the president that could help him get capital going into the conversation about tax reform that he's going to need because we know he has to do some things the left isn't going to like. >> to lower to the level of crass politics -- >> don't do that. >> some people criticizing her moderates from northeast who this is an area they can come out and beat their chest. >> kelly ayotte, susan colins. >> satisfy the base without taking votes or doing else they might not want to do that might drive away other voters. and women, there's something in it for him. >> susan rice has been an incredibly tenacious u.s. u.n. ambassador and has gotten a lot of stuff done.
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i'll read an excerpt from foreign policy. with the exception of syria she's won every major battle she's fought at u.n., imposes sanctions on north korea, sending a peacekeeping force, and warding off a full-scale war of sudan and south sudan. you're talking about qualifications for secretary of state, that qualifies her more than reading talking points. >> and at the beginning of this she was one of the few administration officials along with hillary clinton who pushed reluctant people inside the white house, including tom donnell lynn to interview in libya, a position senator republicans took at the time. >> human rights is a key issue and done a lot at u.n. with regard to women, disabled people. and i worked with her in the clinton administration. she was, you know, very tenacious. very intelligent woman. very strong willed. i guess one of the things, as a woman i don't like, some of the
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criticism of her, if this was a man, it -- these would be positive attributes. >> exactly. >> as a woman, well you know she's feisty. >> or they -- when mccain said she's not very brought, this is someone who went to oxford, has a ph.d. career serving as public servant. >> remember how well it worked out when they called sotomayor not very bright. how did the hispanic vote go? >> some point they need to pay attention to the fact what's the list? jones, susan rice, eric holder, lisa jackson. they happen to have dark skin. is that who we're going to attack? >> can i say one thing that has been lost in all of this, as republicans put john kerry in a devaughn and carry him to the threshold of pennsylvania avenue, and he's a tall guy, this is the "wall street journal," amazingly the other person frequently mentioned as possible secretary of state, senator kerry the only threw
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away military meds and testified his fellows were war criminals but said during 2004 debate the u.s. shouldn't use the military power without invoking a global test. this may be the matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. john mccain standing behind someone like john kerry who was swift boated. >> what is that you say? threw his medaled over the fence. put him in the top diplomatic position. >> the irony, thick like a cake. we have to take a break. update about former president george h.w. bush hospitalized in houston quote, president bush has been in and out of the methodist hospital in the texas medical center treated for complications relating to his bronchitis. he's in stable condition and is expected to released within the next 72 hours. coming up, president obama may be meeting with governor romney today but also hosting
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other special and possibly much, much smarter guests at the white house. we'll reveal the vips next. have a good night. here you go. you, too. i'm going to dream about that steak. i'm going to dream about that tiramisu. what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! is a thrilling, dual-flavored ride to mouth fun-town. but it's not like everyone is going to
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just before president obama sits down to lunch with mitt romney he's meeting with five americans awarded the 2012 nobel praez. the president welcomes david win also land who wins the physic prize. robert lefkow wits and brian koblica chemistry prize. if you don't know what g-coupled protein receptors are half of medications work using these receptors. and an economic science for their work on market design and matching theory, used to match
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kidney donors and assign kids to public schools in new york, boston, chicago. given the basic mental challenges these days we salute the brains raising the i.q. level of the nation's capital on thursday. after the break, in 2011, the u.s. stopped a palestinian bid for u.n. recognition dead in its track. this year american opposition will have little impact on recognizing palestinian as a state. we'll ask how the tide turned when they join us live next on "now." two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come.
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it's a very unfortunate outcome that the united nations will grant nonmember state observers status at the u.n. not only what it does at u.n. but even more significantly for what it allows to happen at international criminal court. president abbas now in the evil
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situation of trying to outdo hamas in his own way, is threatening to use the enhanced status to pursue these initiatives. >> that was senator chuck schumer speaking last hour with a bipartisan group of senators in just two 2 1/2 hours the u.n. set to recognize palestine as a state. while israel and the united states oppose the vote the palestinians are expected to receive overwhelming support in the general assembly. in europe several countries, including france, spain, denmark, have announced they will vote to approve palestine ace nonmember state. and in a blow to u.s. and israeli opposition, germany said this morning it will abstain rather than voting no. america's closest ally the united kingdom is expected to abstain. palestinians are also receiving support from israel's former prime minister, who hold "the daily beast," quote i believe the palestinian request from the u.n. is congruent with the basic concept of the two state solution.
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i see no reason to oppose it. once the united nations will lay the foundations for the idea we and israel have to encourage a serious -- engage in a serious process of negotiations. hillary clinton disagrees. >> we oppose palestinian efforts to upgrade their status at the u.n., outside of the framework of negotiations to achieve a two-state solution because, no matter what happens at the united nations, it will not produce the outcome that this government, this president, certainly i, strongly support. >> perhaps the most significant change that will come with the upgraded status palestine's ability to where charges of war crimes against israel to the international criminal court. joining the panel now to discuss these implications and more, former assistant of state, p.j. crowley and from normal, msnbc contributor rula jebreal. welcome to the program. i want to ask p.j., in terms of dynamics here, countries moving
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swiftly in the course of the last year to support palestinian statehood. how much does the conflict in gaza inform that? >> the conflict in gaza informs the desperation president abbas and the palestinian authority feels. he has to do this now to be relevant because he was largely sidelined in the recent gaza conflict. from the time they announced this a year ago all events have compelled him to take this action. >> let's talk a little bit about how this affects israel and america in terms of their -- not negotiating power but their position in all of this, which is to say, we are to some degree isolated here, given the fact that germany, uk, france, they are effectively not on america's side on this. how devastating is that in terms of the broader international picture? >> once this got to the united nations' general assembly the result is inevitable. the real issue is, as senator schumer highlighted it, it's
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with this political tool, club if you will, what will abbas do with this? and you know if you're an optimist, you say there's a slim possibility here that a re-elects president, potentially re-elected prime minister, netanyahu in the alex wagnelect january, can find a way back to negotiating process otherwise this just reinforces the current stagnation that we have within the middle east peace process. >> in terms of how this affects the men people, on the ground you have a long history here, what is your sense of this moment for palestine? >> well, the war in gaza empowered hamas more than ever. remember a year ago, israel negotiated with hamas, empowering hamas while abbas was submitting his first bid a year ago to the security council israel was negotiating with hamas and releasing 1,000
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prisoners. every israeli policy, so far since netanyahu was in office four years has been to negotiate whether clearly or under the table with hamas and empower them and ignore abu mazen. hoping a year ago he will have some kind of recognition, some kind of settlement, political settlement. we're talking about the man that always believed in a peace process that was pro-peace process since 1993 when signed. yes, he was desperate but a smart move on his end to gather more palestinian and rally more palestinians and tell them, look, i can achieve for you something through a political and peaceful path. i think what the u.s. is doing today is humiliating more and more abbas. >> so you -- well that -- you seem to think, then, i mean, going off on what p.j. said,
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this does open the door to peace negotiations? >> i don't know if it opens the door immediately to peace negotiation but it put more pressure on the prime minister netanyahu pressure that started internally. look, three days ago, six members, six former head of the internal secret service in israel, said clearly, we need to negotiate with the palestinian because this is the only way quee hawe can have a secure, prosperous country, the only way to survive. one of them said we should negotiate with everyone, even including hamas themselves. and they have been ignored. with olmert, as you said before, he's been saying, this is actually enhances the possibility into the future we'll have two-state solution and not one-state solution. it will open a dynamic within the israeli society where now you have olmert might run against netanyahu, the former
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minister of foreign relations might run again, and she created a movement, they'll create more pressure internally on israel and more pressure externally. the germans decided to abstain and this is a big blow. when angela merkel, a year ago, was asked she said we don't know. but then netanyahu called her and said he was upset about this. she told him she was disappointed he did nothing towards the peace process. >> if this does end up sort of laying the groundwork for a peace process, because it puts more pressure on the israelis and israeli leadership, where does the u.s. position itself? "the new york times" editorial board, perhaps not surprisingly, said some in congress threatened more sanctions and senators graham and schumer talking about cutting aid to the palestinians if they bring charges. they say some in congress have threatened more sanctions. israel has toned down the threat
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but was should drop them altogether as congress. it makes no sense to punish pun palestinian committed to a peaceful solution. it now needs to put its energies into forging commitments to restart the peace talks. >> i think that's critical. the next two months, how we react to this, obviously congress may well try to eliminate all aid to the palestinian authority. that has its own problems in terms of driving them towards potential bankruptcy. israel has potential weapon in withholding tax revenue, collects on behalf of the palestinians. the best outcome here would be the united states goes well, we regret this, let's move on. and then the other aspect would, standing up immediately after this, but today in the u.n. and and say, i'm prepared to go into negotiations without preconditions. if you get those three, you know, legs of the stool, now you have something to kind of work with, if otherwise if everyone takes their own unilateral
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action you come out of this again, empowering hamas. >> p.j., where is the white house on this? i mean, you know, the keystone has been removed from the entire process. as you know, you know, the palestinian/israel peace process is, you know, the stuff of second terms for time in memorial. doesn't obama and whoever is going to be the secretary of state next really have to forcefully get in here for anything good to happen? >> glenn, as you know, the administration tried something different, tried to work this in the first term, it got burned by it. two years ago the white house was not ready to push netanyahu beyond his comfort level on settlements through a mistake they embarrassed the vice president on the ground a temporary settlement moratorium but did not get it renewed. the flexibility that comes with the president -- >> to use a phrase, source, anonymous. >> and you also will -- i mean the value of olmert's statement this becomes part of the upcoming israeli campaign and
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maybe you see the reemergence of a peace center, peace left in israeli politics by has dissipated in the last five years at a minimum, puts pressure on netanyahu to go back into negotiations and/or potentially -- i think it's doubtful -- ends up with a new israeli government. either way there is with a second term you know, some -- another dynamic, a slim opportunity. we have been at this for 20 years and we've never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity but there's a slim opportunity to move us forward. >> i will thank my guests here, p.j. crowley, rula jebreal, for painting a decidedly more optimistic picture on this than i thought possible at beginning of the segment. thank you both for your time and expertise. we hope to have you on back again soon. we just got new video of governor mitt romney arriving at the white house. his lunch with the president is under way right now. we do not know what they're having for lunch. if you have any tips, send
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something to our twitter feed. house republicans make it official, they take the word chairman seriously. >> republicans in the house, picked for their 19 committee chairman, 19 committee chair men. 19 jobs, 19 men. and it turns out that story gets worse. bang. >> we will look at the gop's continuing female troubles coming up next. look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder
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congratulating nancy pelosi on her unanimous election to remain democratic leader. the house republican conference named 19 of the 21 committee chairs and of the new leadership position, how many are held by women? zero. how many are held by white men? all of them. it appears the house gop take the term chairman literally. democrats have not voted on their new chairs but it's reported women may hole the ranking position in five committee. yesterday marcia blackburn speaking to nbc expressed disappointment with her party. >> i wish we weren't having to address that issue. i would like to have thought that we could have had women chairman. but the fact that this is kind of the way it has turned out as a vote, i think what we have to do is just continue to highlight the well-qualified women that
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are in our conference. >> the republican all-male leadership comes as a record number of imwere elected to congress. 101 women, 20 in the senate, 81 in the house. surprising no one the number of democratic women outpaces the number of republican women. in the house democratic women, 61-20. the new senate number of female democrats increased from 12 to 16. while the number of republican women fell from 5 to 4. but, hey, after an election, where republicans brought america transvaginal probes, legitimate rape and binders filled with women, and after acknowledging that the party has serious female troubles, why bother putting any women in positions of leadership? karen? >> can i just say, as you're reading that these three men, like -- fun to watch. >> physically squirming in their seats. >> no war on women, that's in our minds because we're kooky
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but that picture suggests it might be -- >> working with that. >> come on. >> i didn't see. >> how can you -- can the republican party not help itself? after the hearing, where it's all white men sitting there, they -- you think at least optically they'd get the message. >> knowing that, one of the groups that they had the big of the trouble with was women voters, right? you would have thought somebody would have looked aat picture and said something's wrong here, can we create something for a woman? can we -- >> to give them a shred of credit they elected morris to be head of the republican conference. >> why didn't they say -- the leadership positions to kind of -- that's good spin. i'm just saying. >> here's what's interesting. they know how to respond to political pressure. when the tea party came in they
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created two special leadership seats for these freshmen because they said this is something we need to acknowledge, a major part of our base. so, they do know how to create positions for people so they can have access to power. >> aware of how politics work they don't always play the game. glenn, we have talked there's a lot of talk in pontiff fi indicating and armchair psychology what the gop's going to do, take the party in a different direction, emerge stronger. when you see stuff like this, and you hear talk about immigration, we hear talk about outreach to, you know, people of color, it really makes you wonder if they're capable of substantive change, given the fact it did not occur maybe there should be a woman in a leadership position there. i will say there are two seats left. maybe they'll get the memo. >> ethics, right? a real door prize there. >> special committee on outreach to women?
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>> maybe. >> or the easter egg hunt. i mean, look, it's just clear that this is a huge issue and it's a huge problem inside the republican conference and the party at large. a congressman yesterday when asked about this, a male white congressman, committee chairman, say this was inside d.c. baseball. it's the opposite. it's a huge issue. >> coupled with the fact many republican legislatures, arkansas, ohio, michigan went to anti-twice legislation, personhood bills, let's give fetuses tax status. it seems nobody in the republican party got the message because here's what's happening in washington. back in the states back to defunding planned parenthood. >> in terms of statehood legislation horrible stuff going on. if there's a silver lining for the republican party in the state capitals where there are female governors and there will there are four of the five, there should be more than five in the country. four of them are republican,
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january brew, suzanna martinez, nicky haley. good news maybe for 2016 in the republican party in terms of the bench. but actually in terms of the party policy and legislation, i don't know. i don't know. it's grim out there. chairman. no offense. >> love men. >> after the break a special segment with glenn thrush and his hat. that is a tease right there. [ whistle blows ] hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick meal, that's perfect for two! campbell's chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. [ "the odd couple" theme playing ] humans. even when we cross our "t"s and dot our "i"s, we still run into problems --
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mainly other humans. at liberty mutual insurance, we understand. that's why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates won't go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. call... to talk to an insurance expert about everything else that comes standard with our base auto policy. [ tires squeal ] and if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. call... to switch, and you could save hundreds. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. great tasting water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.
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that is all for us here at "now" pipe have to thank part of my panel in absentia, josh, karen, ryan for the fish shutout. glenn thrush, we have a few moments to discuss something that is front of mind with most of washington's political class, if not the country, which is the hat and when it became a
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signature part of your sartorial style. >> i was born with it. >> which must have been tough for your mom. >> a number of things tough for my mother and i was one of them. i got it as a birthday present and i have a rule that people should follow, never spend more than 40 bucks of a hat because you will always lose them. >> is it always this style of hat? >> no, i have several -- several kinds but this one covers more of my bald head than other ones do. >> we thank you for wearing it on air. it was a daring and bold move and appreciate it here. that is all for us. see you back in new york city tomorrow at noon eastern 9:00 a.m. pacific joined by chris hayes, melissa harris-perry, michael crowley and sam stein. i slide show of our favorite d.c. landmarks at facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports" next. anncr: some politicians seem to think medicare and... social security are just numbers in a budget.
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well, we worked hard for those benefits. we earned them. and if washington tries to cram decisions about the future... of these programs into a last minute budget deal... we'll all pay the price. aarp is fighting to protect seniors with responsible... solutions that strengthen medicare and... social security for generations to come. we can do better than a last minute deal... that would hurt all of us.
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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," table for two. but no formal dress code. this time for today's lunch date, as the president arrives -- mitt romney arrives to see the president at the white house. what's on the men knew could be the fiscal cliff. treasury secretary timothy geithner tried to find common ground on the hill during meetings with both sides. >> revenue is on the table but revenue was only on the table if there were serious spending cuts as part of this agreement. it has to be part of the agreement. we have a debt crisis. >> this is very similar to what happened on the payroll tax holiday. you recall the president was calling for it, the senate voted for it house democrats want it republicans isolated themselves and painted themselves into the corner and they had to come around. i think they'll come around. >> plus, benghazi round three. we'llal